Thursday, September 30, 2010

Looking at 2010 — 3

This should just about wrap of this year's position players. We'll put off to another post any speculation regarding how many, if any, we think might be coming back.

Alvin Colina (28). 2010 was his fourth year as a AAA catcher. Last year he was with Gwinnett.

Played in 51 (201 plate appearances) games with the Bulls before blowing out a knee on July 22nd. 7 HR, 28 RBI, .231/.279/.390, wOBA .274, bRAA -7.3. Postions played: C-37, DH-13.

As with Jose Lobaton, we find it hard to evaluate a catcher from the stands. Nevertheless, we find a lot to like about Mr. Colina. He appears to handle pitchers well and he appears to handle younger catchers well. We haven’t had an update on his condition since July, but we would not mind seeing him back with the Bulls next year.

Ryan Shealy (30) played 48 games at first base and as a DH for the Bulls before opting out in June. Decent numbers, wOBA .373, bRAA 6.5. He helped the Bulls get off to a good start. He went to the Pawtucket Red Sox, got in a few games with Boston, went back to Pawtucket, and was released in early August. Stats.

Dioner Navarro (26) showed up in Durham in late June and left the beginning of September. Apparently struggling as the Tampa Bay Rays starting catcher, he came to the Bulls for the opportunity to sort things out. And pretty much did.

Played in 43 games (169 plate appearances) during his stay. 2 HR, 21 RBI, .284/.387/.390, wOBA .369, bRAA 4.6. Positions played: C-35, DH-7. We don’t expect to see Dioner back any time soon. Good catcher. Certainly an asset to the Bulls while he was with us. The best numbers of any of the Bulls’ catchers.

He is likely to be remembered for his first game as a Bull when he took a 102 mph fastball from the then Louisville Bat (now Cincinnati Red) reliever Aroldis Chapman.

Luna played at three levels this year, the Stone Crabs, Biscuits, and Bulls. As much as he was around this year, he didn’t make much of an impression until the end of the season. Then he was terrific. He’s young and looks pretty good on the field. Not much of a bat, however. Would imagine he’s got a good shot to start either in Montgomery or with the Bulls next year.

Cuban defector Leslie Anderson was being touted as a candidate for the Rays Carlos Pena’s job when he was signed. We don’t think so. He does bat for average, and, so far, doing pretty well. The question would be, at his age, is he on his way up or down?

Hank Blalock (29) played 26 games, went up to the Rays, and went on his way.

Matt Joyce (25) played 25 games with the Bulls and it now looks like he is finally sticking with the Rays. About time, we’d say.

Rocco Baldelli (28) was in 11 games, Rays catcher Kelly Shoppach (30) visited for 4 games while rehabbing, as did shortstop Jason Bartlett (30) for 1 game. Another outlier was pitcher Bobby Livingston who DH’d twice.

Catcher John Jaso (26) started the year with the Bulls, but went up to the Rays in April and stuck there. Good for him.

That brings us to four interesting guys from whom we are going to have to pick this year’s Moonlight Graham Award.

Catcher Nevin Ashley (25) came up from Montgomery for 7 games in the regular season and 5 more in the postseason. There is a lot of potential in this guy even if his hitting was not stellar while with the Bulls. Stats.

Catcher Craig Albernaz (27) only had one regular season game, but 4 in the postseason. We have always like Albernaz. Maybe he’ll spend a year with us next season. Stats.

Catcher Kyle Holloway (22) in his first professional season had 4 games with the Bulls at the end of the year. Not much of a chance of seeing him again for a year or two. Stats.

Outfielder Emeel Salem (25) had three games with the Bulls when they were playing Gwinnett. We speculated at the time that his visit might have had as much to do with proximity to Montgomery as the fitness of the Bulls outfield crew. Stats.